TUANZ - Telecomunications Users Association Of New Zealand

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"Mouthpiece" in mothballs

Posted Fri 26 February 2010 @ 12:31 p.m. by Ernie

Everything has its day. "Mouthpiece" is no exception.For several years its been a popular resource for contact centre professionals up and down new Zealand. But since the recession, things have changed dramatically in the contact centre arena. We've seen a decline in visitor numbers to this part of our site, while the viability of luncheons, awards and conferences specific to contact centres has evaporated. We can see no sign of it coming back.So reluctantly, our Board has decided to stick...

Categories: Benchmarking | Events | International | Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile | Recruitment and HR | Technology | Vendors

Crimestoppers 0800 launched

Posted Fri 16 October 2009 @ 10:53 a.m. by Megan

It is great to see the launch of the Crimestoppers service in New Zealand. It offers an 0800 number to all New Zealanders who may know some details about a crime and want to use an anonymous system to pass on some information. Crimestoppers is an independent charity helping to find criminals and solve crimes, with support of the NZ Police. I like 0800 numbers starting up, as it means that there is another contact centre with job and career opportunities happening in New Zealand....

Categories: Events | Lifestyle | Profile

PlunketLine, every country should have one

Posted Mon 5 October 2009 @ 12:08 p.m. by Megan

I am sure there isn’t a grown New Zealander who doesn’t know what Plunket does in the community. Every new mother has the opportunity to have Plunket help them through those early years with their children. So it was great to see Plunket pick up the TUANZ Healthcare Innovation Award 2009 in early September. And let’s not forget the impromptu collection that raised over $1300 during the evening that showed how respected they are for the work they do. Plunket’s award was based on their solution...

Categories: Events | Lifestyle

ASB Contact Centres part in the Big Night In

Posted Mon 10 August 2009 @ 2:40 p.m. by Megan

I was pleasantly surprised and got all excited on Saturday night when I sat down with my daughter to watch the Big Night In. Part of this excitement was due to the fact that the show included cutting across to the ASB contact centre which was taking calls. I was thinking that is so cool for ASB, the staff and for the perception of New Zealanders of contact centres - no battery-hen set up and it was open and airy and people were doing their jobs and doing it well. Then...

Categories: Events | Profile

018 under fire again

Posted Thu 9 July 2009 @ 12:46 p.m. by Megan

I watched the Campbell Live segment on Monday night about the number of complaints 018 is receiving about its service. Sadly the problem once again for Kiwis is that the entire operations of 018 are currently being transferred to Manila. If you missed it, click here to read more or view the video. It’s the same old, same old - the offshore contact centre staff struggle with our accents and in return we struggle to understand them which causes frustration, which is not a recipe for...

Categories: Events | Profile

Contact Centre Awards 2009 - update

Posted Fri 3 July 2009 @ 10:49 a.m. by Megan

Sadly I have to report that after weeks of behind the scene planning TUANZ and IDC have decided not to go ahead with the TUANZ Contact Centre Awards for 2009. Instead, the decision was made to postpone the awards to 2010, when we will once again also host the TUANZ Contact Centre conference.It’s heartbreaking to miss a year of celebrating excellence in our industry, but TUANZ and hosting partners IDC worked tirelessly to try and make the 2009 awards happen. Unfortunately the economic climate...

Categories: Events | Profile

Nortel Contact Centre luncheon

Posted Thu 11 June 2009 @ 1:55 p.m. by Megan

I attended the last two Nortel Contact Centre Luncheons in Hamilton and Auckland last week. Luckily I knew after the Hamilton session that I had the opportunity to listen to it again in Auckland as there was a lot of information given in speaker Darren Leffler's presentation and as much as I scribbled notes, I knew I could still take in more.Entitled Communications Enablement, this was a presentation I would have insisted my general manager to attend - if I was still working for one. This would...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Technology | Vendors

Nortel Asia gives its take on unified comms

Posted Wed 3 June 2009 @ 12:48 p.m. by Ernie

Nortel Asia is running around New Zealand this week giving its take on unified communications. Speaker Darren Leffler, a veteran of the TUANZ circuit, hails from Sydney, and is accompanied by colleague Steve Harris from Melbourne. There are a lot of messages in Leffler’s presentation which I found rich in insight. To me it lifted the case for unified communications to a new level. Check here for more on UC. He talked a lot about the notion of “human latency” – the delays caused by people’s unavailability...

Categories: Benchmarking | Events | International | Leadership | Technology | Vendors

New date for TUANZ Contact Centre Awards

Posted Fri 15 May 2009 @ 3:15 p.m. by Louis

The date of the 2009 TUANZ Contact Centre Awards has been changed to allow us more time to bring you a high-quality event. The awards will now take place on Thursday, 22 October 2009 and entries will now open on Monday, 13 July. There has been no change to the award categories and the event will still be held at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland. We are working closely with our events partner IDC to ensure the 2009 TUANZ Contact Centre Awards will be yet another successful event. The categories...

Categories: Events

Is this NZ’s most interesting contact centre?

Posted Fri 1 May 2009 @ 5:33 p.m. by Ernie

Ok guys, be as jealous as you like! Last Friday night I had a fascinating experience, with a visit from 10pm until 2am to an amazing contact centre – the Police Northern Communications Centre which takes the 111 emergency calls. I was lucky to get in there through my role on the Board of the Telecommunications Carriers Forum which does a bit of work with the emergency services and issued an invitation. It helps us to understand the issues they have around call clarity, CLI and others. This is,...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Profile | Technology

Contact Centre Awards 2009 - An important update

Posted Fri 24 April 2009 @ 10:08 a.m. by Megan

Excitement is running high as we countdown to the 2009 TUANZ Contact Centre Awards and we are delighted to announce the award categories and key dates. We have been busy working with the IDC team through the details of the awards. There is a lot of interest in the awards once again, and we are delighted to now share these details with you.We have changed some of the award categories and added a new Supreme Award – Overall Contact Centre Award 2009.The categories for the TUANZ Contact Centre...

Categories: Events | Profile

TV3's report on India's call centres

Posted Wed 15 April 2009 @ 10:55 a.m. by Megan

If you missed it last night, Campbell live did a segment on the secret world of call centres in India. I watched it this morning trying to work out what they were trying to achieve. And I don’t mean the Campbell live report; no I’m talking about Infosys. They showed the wonderful outside grounds or cosmetic things for their call centre business but didn’t show the heart or inside the buildings.I am wondering why Campbell Live wasn’t allowed in the buildings? Giving no access...

Categories: Events | International | Profile

Contact Centre Awards 2009 - book it in your diaries

Posted Tue 7 April 2009 @ 2:52 p.m. by Megan

The great news for this week is the partnership created between TUANZ and IDC that ensures the TUANZ Contact Centre Awards for 2009 are happening. The partnership will ensure that the awards will be more accessible to members and maintain its high standards. Book 18 August 2009 in your diaries NOW. With the current climate, TUANZ understands the importance to continue with the awards to give the industry a focus and process for centres to be judged or benchmark themselves against...

Categories: Events | Profile

Mirrors in centres - a vanity or service tool?

Posted Thu 2 April 2009 @ 11:27 a.m. by Megan

I received an emailed recently from a contact centre manager who has been advised to supply each staff member with mirrors. It was recommended they they install a small mirror at each desk in the contact centre to encourage staff to smile and therefore project a friendlier tone of voice. Should they do it or not?I remember seeing this in a centre I came into, it was in its final stages and staff had either broken them or thrown them into the drawers. I don’t know whether they were given...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Lifestyle

So many ideas - it's all about sharing...

Posted Thu 26 March 2009 @ 1:34 p.m. by Megan

It’s all done, the kilo of ideas from the contact centre Survival Through People & Processes sessions have been transferred into a document and are ready to be distributed to all the attendees in the next day or so. Even as I worked my way through the flip charts, there were still ideas and tips that I had missed during the sessions!Some things noted on the flip charts were agreeing with the ideas that came from the presentation and then we have a bucket load of ideas and tips from...

Categories: Events | Profile

Wow... a kilo of ideas and tips

Posted Fri 20 March 2009 @ 2:15 p.m. by Megan

I’m back in my home town after a wonderful tour of the main centres presenting the ideas and tips on how to survive the recession. I had a great time and many laughs along the way; I got to catch up with old friends and meet some new people to the TUANZ sessions or the contact centre industry. I now have an extra kilo of paper which has come from the workshops in each of the four sessions. My mission next week is to get this collated and sent out to every attendee. You will see...

Categories: Events

Thoughts on Managing Through a Recession

Posted Fri 20 March 2009 @ 7:17 a.m. by Ernie

I rarely blog here on Mouthpiece but thought I'd make a break after attending a couple of Megan Lacy's "Managing your contact centre through a recession" sessions this week. Megan's going to post a major summary of the conclusions once she's back in Tauranga and has recovered her composure and voice. She did a great job, along with all those who contributed their thinking by video or in writing - thanks from TUANZ to you all.I guess if I had one big "takeaway" it is this:Over the years when I've...

Categories: Benchmarking | Events | Leadership | Recruitment and HR

Leadership Development section live now

Posted Thu 12 March 2009 @ 9:27 a.m. by Megan

I learnt early on that I don’t know everything all of the time about leadership and just because it works for other leaders or it did work for me in the past, doesn’t mean that the team I’m working with now will respond the same way. Luckily, I had some wonderful mentors that corrected and pointed me in the right direction over the years. Part of my learning was to always look for new information or articles on leadership development for myself and for my staff. These days the...

Categories: Events | Profile

Survival through People & Processes - a Contact Centre Event

Posted Fri 6 March 2009 @ 12:17 p.m. by Megan

It’s all go here, we have just finished recording further tips and ideas from some leading contact centre managers to incorporate into the presentation for our upcoming Survival through People & Processes event. We are really excited to get out and about in the main centres to help contact centres get though the downturn. There will be lots of ideas and strategies spoken about and a workshop at the end to discuss ideas or issues and find solutions with your peers. Not to forget...

Categories: Events

Great News for PlunketLine

Posted Thu 26 February 2009 @ 10:54 a.m. by Megan

The announcement from the Health Minister yesterday must have been pleasant relief for the staff who manage and work in the PlunketLine 0800 Call Centre. Currently the PlunketLine service is delivered by a team of nurses that are available for 17 hours a day, but now will be able to extend their hours of operation to 24 hours, 7 days a week. The Government has said they will fully fund the PlunketLine for the next few years.This is great news for new mothers and for the call...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile

Do you want an outsourcing company?

Posted Thu 19 February 2009 @ 3:12 p.m. by Megan

Over the Christmas break I had an enquiry from a business looking for outsourcing contact centres in New Zealand. This business wanted to utilise the services of an outbound outsourcing company to sell its products. But it was struggling to find these companies and had no idea where to start. Luckily TUANZ was able to help them out and steer them in the right direction with the help of the Contact Centre Committee. This gave us the idea to have this information in our...

Categories: Events | International | Leadership

Manawatu Contact Centre Cluster do it again...

Posted Thu 27 November 2008 @ 7:34 p.m. by Megan

In their 3rd year of holding their own regional Contact Centre Awards, the Manawatu Contact Centre Cluster celebrated on Friday 15th November with their Awards evening in Palmerston North. With 310 people in attendance, the night was hosted by TV3’s Hamish McKay and the guests danced the night away to The Mermaids.People, who attended from outside the region, talk about the fantastic buzz that was created during the awards ceremony, and how all the finalists were passionate about ...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile

Who is Garry Jones?

Posted Thu 13 November 2008 @ 3:22 p.m. by Megan

Ernie had the pleasure of introducing Garry Jones as our new TUANZ Contact Centre Committee Chairperson back in September 2008. For such an important role, TUANZ has asked Garry to introduce himself and give the members an understanding of where he has come from and what his objectives are as the new Chairperson.Garry has been a contact centre professional for the last decade and is currently the Contact Centre Manager for iinet. Garry has had a taste of all the key roles within...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Profile

Are you looking for a Supplier or Vendor?

Posted Thu 30 October 2008 @ 6:45 p.m. by Megan

And you don’t know where to start? As a new Contact Centre Manager many years ago, I felt lost at times when I was looking for products and services and finding out what company did what!. Networking luncheons and the TUANZ Contact Centre Conferences were a great place to start. However I wanted a ‘place’ to go to get information when I wanted. TUANZ has identidied this gap and have decided to ensure that TUANZ members can gain access to this information easily and to make contact...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile

Learnings from the ICMI Conference

Posted Mon 22 September 2008 @ 3:58 p.m. by Sarah

On her way back from Phoenix, TUANZ Key Relationships Manager Bernice Archer has found time to reflect on the ICMI Annual Call Center Exhibition and Knowledge Exchange Conference. Here are her findings: The ICMI Annual Call Center Exhibition and Knowledge Exchange Conference was held over a few days in Phoenix Arizona last week. I was fortunate enough to attend and witness some very informative sessions. The theme throughout the conference leaned towards work relationships, and...

Categories: Events | International | Leadership | Recruitment and HR | Technology | Vendors

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